British Journalist Hits Out at Chelsea Owner Roman Abramovich [VIDEO]

British journalist Matthew Syed has hit out at Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich by saying that the Russian “has exerted a corrosive influence on the game.”

In the discussion on Sky Sports News, Times reporter Syed doesn’t hold back as he criticizes Abramovich’s decade in charge of the club. He argues that Abramovich bought Chelsea to protect himself from “being got at” by the Russian authorities. The reporter also claims that Abramovich and the Abu Dhabi Group didn’t buy British football clubs (Chelsea and Manchester City respectively) to make profits, but that they’re exploiting them for their own political gain.

Watch the absorbing discussion below, and feel free to share your feedback in the comments below on whether you believe Syed is spot on, or if he goes overboard.

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Publisher of World Soccer Talk, Christopher Harris founded the site in 2005. He has been interviewed by The New York Times, The Guardian and several other publications. Plus he has made appearances on NPR, BBC World, CBC, BBC Five Live, talkSPORT and beIN SPORT.
Harris, who was born and raised in Wales, has lived in Florida since 1984, and supported Swansea City since 1979. Last but not least, he got engaged during half-time of a MLS game.

23 Comments

blessingJuly 2, 2013

mr mathew please , if you do not have anything to report as a journalist please and please do not say anything rubbish about roman of chelsea again . I know you are enemy of chelsea .

Mr Matthew, why don’t you try one form of busineess and let’s watch how successful you are. Pls keep your comments to yourself and watch the beautiful game and beautiful clubs which are transformed by owners that are loved by almost everyone. Mr Matthew, I suggest a summer vacation in Amsterdam 4 you. Nice sunshine over there if u don’t know!!!

Sky Sports = despicable house organ of the rags. No harsh words for their owner, then? The pig who uses that club like an ATM but nothing ever gets said about that of course.

Meanwhile Roman Abramovich can invest immense amounts of his own money into the Chukotka Oblast in Russia and actually do positive things for the people there and sky/rag sports says nothing about that.

Or the worldwide scope of charitable work done by the Abu Dhabi group. Underprivileged kids in Chicago, and New York, and Johannesburg getting kits and equipment and pitches to play on. In addition to lots of other things being done all over the place by Mansour’s people. Again, nothing said here other than it is just “PR” and politically-motivated I guess.

Hey Sky Sports, Josef Goebbels called and said you needed to show a little more objectivity.

Wonder what their party line will be next year when Chelsea or City finishes ahead of their house club? Oh, wait, I know. That the title is somehow illegitimate, “bought,” etc. That there needs to be more and stricter “Financial Fair Play.” This time indexing allowable club expenditures to the average number of first-place finishes over the past 21 years.

Well, no one can argue that Abromovich has a shady past littered with illegalities and crime. The guy is just smart enough and rich enough not to get caught. Too bad he can’t apply these talents to operating his club intelligently. Has his ownership of Chelsea improved the game? Hell no! It’s just exasperated the Premier League into paying outlandish fees for players and encouraging clubs… City, cough, cough to buy trophies. But no amount of money can help that plastic club Chelsea or help their despicable fans.

Do Chelsea fans leave like a fire drill at the 81′ minute in a semi-final at Wembley ? Levy and Enic operating well i see no trophies and no title since 61. Spurs complete and utter joke of a club. Andre whats the score Andre, Andre whats the score ?

No trophies and no title since 1961 lol.. You are watless absolutely clueless…until abramovich and his blood money came in it had been 50 years since you’d won the league, but that’s by the by…you are embarrassingly wrong.

lol you need to look at both clubs history pre blood money from abramovich….

Your quite angry and sad response is natural when your psychie is traumatized with the truth, you react uncontrollably at your keyboard spewing absolute nonsense.

AVB what’s the Score? you sir are a perfect fit for CFC.

Whatever makes you feel better and helps you justify supporting a club owned and funded the succes you love by murder, blackmail and fraud.

This IS documented…its not refutable. Your ego is having a hard time rationalizing the facts…which lends hope to the fact their is a soul in their somewhere.

Yes you won a title after 50 years with abramovich and you won 2 more after that…so what…

it is indeed your club that is the Joke…the captain , the owner, and now the return of the poke-e-one.

So to summarize…you were founded in 2003..on blood money,have no class, treat managers like dirt, need plastic flags handed out (ask rafa) to create atmosphere and your theme is the anthem of skinheads…seriously…how embarrassing is all that.

Is Interpol on the case ? When is the Premier League going to throw out Roman for being a gangster or murderer ? I mean its all in Wikipedia so how dumb can the authorities be right ? World Class players like Hazard and Mata should fire their advisors because its apparent that we’re a bastion of fascism just ask Ramires or Mikel or Roman he’s Jewish as well as a gangster. Well since you have irrefutable evidence of Roman’s nefarious activities please do your duty and turn him in. You’ll be a hero to the sods on GG or the Fighting Cock. I see you didn’t dispute that poxy Spurs supporters abandon their team when they need them the most. Spurs London’s third team at best.

LOL..denial…you are in denial…I didnt address the fans leaving b/c its pointless, yess fans left early at 5-1…

I do remember being at stamford bridge in 1990 when we won 2-1 and seeing cfc fans leaving with 5 minutes to go…

I also remember your away support silent and doing their world war z impersonations as they try to escape the lane after the 5-1 battering we put on you in the league cup semi final at the Lane in 2002…disgraceful behavior that day.

also in the final at wembley in 2008…LOL…your lot started disappearing before full time…

Its no wonder with so many plastic fans here in the states that dont know the history of the club and racsit fans back at the bridge, with the gangster owner, racist captain that cheats on his wife with his team mates girl, ball boy kicking winger and manager straight out of the 3 stooges, CFC have become a more despised team by Spurs fans than Farsenal.

FYI..the wiki page hasnt been sent cease and disist orders…thats his wiki page FFS…why hasnt it been removed? a man of Romans ego would be ok with the untruths?

LOL…like I said…justify your support of the team all you want…but youcant deny its built off of billions from a gangster…
whats him being jewish got to do with it? what are you suggesting? Im a spurs fan not jewish…

you should read the book, “Does Your Rabbi Know You’re Here” before you continue to write utter rubbish…

I hear Jose has a new training exercise involving a ball boy, its not kicking him tho, its ashley cole shooting him with his air rifle….

Ha! Your actually taking stabs at Spurs fans’ commitment and passion for their club? Dont make me laugh. Spurs have trophy droughts and are robbrd of CL and the fans are still there. Your souless plastic club and their fickle fans implode the moment things go “bad”. The owner is an impatient child. Abromovich fires Mourinho, Ancelotti and DiMatteo the moment they have a blip? When Aromovich gets bored of wasting his blood money on Chelski and leaves the fans will disappear also. Their treatment of Benitez was appalling. Enjoy your celery and trophies while they last. Spurs till I die. COYS

I don’t think he’ll get bored, I think he’ll be arrested…its so ridiculously comon knowledge he’s a crook, he’s referenced in the movie RockNRolla and the Bourne series…the crooked russian billionaires in those movies are absolutely based off of him..they’re even played by actors who look like him.

Your club also take centre role in most football thug movies right their with WestHam…

It was inevitable a club supported by thugs would have players that were thugs and owned by thugs…

You didn’t even know the CFC theme they play before every game is a skinhead anthem LMAO plastic fans…

Mr. Sayed needs to watch his mouth or he might end up facing Abramovich in court, instead of just reporting on a case. Everything Sayed says is tinged with double standards. His would do better to focus on the corruption and scandals and jail terms in his own press industry, and on the foreign owners of “English” newspapers. His tripe doesn’t really need dissecting by me – anyone with even a whiff of intellect can see for themselves from the video exactly what kind of character Sayed is, and what biased, agenda-ridden drivel he spouts.

Isn’t is so easy these days for everyone that you blabber about Chelsea FC and you are on the spotlight. Some people are just too unhappy with the fact that premier league has not become a 1 or 2 club league like they would have preferred.

I dont really side with syeds view but both city and chelsea would be nothing with out there benefactors. At least FFP is coming in for the hardworking clubs so.it will be easy for the likes of spurs and dortmund to make themselves house hold names.

Syed’s theory that Abramovich and the City investors are ‘protecting’ themselves against politics and war by acquiring ‘iconographic’ (?!) cultural organisations is embarrassingly crass. How that scheme might work he does not tell us.
He also fails to reflect what Abramovich did in his years as governor of Chukotka, where he transformed the lives of people using millions of his own money.
Syed should stick to ping pong.